Tony Bennett in San Francisco, 2002 [Photo: tonybennett.com] Bennett’s death, less than two weeks from his 97th birthday, was confirmed to the Associated Press by his publicist Sylvia Weiner.

At the time, he preferred art class, because as he told WQXR in 1981, he found “music classes [to be] terribly boring.” Related: 15 Best Tony Bennett Songs ...

Tony Bennett was known to sketch people and places, like this charcoal drawing of Central Park. Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco, but his artist’s eye loved the Big Apple.

“Tony Bennett left us an awe-inspiring legacy as a renaissance man who used his talents not only to entertain but to bridge generations and champion equality through his music and art,” says ...

"Tony Bennett was a consummate artist," Martin Scorsese said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. "All you have to do is listen to any one of his hundreds of recordings to recognize that.

“Tony Bennett was a consummate artist. All you have to do is listen to any one of his hundreds of recordings to recognize that,” Scorsese wrote in a statement.

An artist from the very start With the sad news of his death on Friday, just shy of his 97th birthday, Tony Bennett is being recalled around the world, one smiling story at a time.

The great Tony Bennett has passed away at the age of 96. He was the last of his kind, a master of the American songbook. He may have left his Heart in San Francisco, but he won all of our hearts ...

TONY BENNETT, 1957 American singer Tony Bennett (centre, right) at a music studio with jazz drummers (left to right) Cándido Camero, Billy Exiner and Art Blakey.